You can put Bill Rizer from Contra and Simon Belmont from Castlevania in the same game. Konami just won’t be the one making it.

In KONAMI Wai Wai World Craft, from Konami Digital Entertainment, you line up Konami characters to build a game and then publish it. You play games other people have built, and when you like one, you send its creator some support. The same player moves back and forth between playing and building. That makes it closer to a UGC platform than a game. Konami’s own genre label for it is “Social Game Creation Network.”

Building a stage in 3D.

It is coming to iOS, Android and PC via Steam. No release window has been announced. One to six people can play together.

Is it just a lineup of familiar faces?

Hear the names Bill and Simon, and it is tempting to assume this is a collection of classic characters. And the characters executive director Hiroshi Tanibuchi has named are, in fact, from Contra and Castlevania, plus Konami originals. The full lineup has not been revealed yet.

The plans Tanibuchi describes for what comes next, though, do not point toward nostalgia. He says Konami will add new characters and, without being bound by its past titles, actively bring out characters and settings made for new kinds of play.

Won’t three-minute games all end up alike?

Answer the questions from the “Magic Pod,” and a game is assembled automatically from your answers. The questions cover things like which game to use as a base and what kind of mood you want it to have. The whole process takes about three minutes. Once the game is built, you can go back in and keep working on it.

Building a stage in 2D.

If a game comes together just from answering multiple-choice questions, anyone who answers the same way would seem to end up with the same game.

Tanibuchi says it does not work that way. The base is a set of choices, but random elements are layered on top, and the player’s history and tendencies are factored in as well. Making the same choices, he says, does not guarantee the same result.

It comes together in three minutes, and the same answers can still produce something different. Hear that, and generative AI becomes the next suspect. Tanibuchi rules that out as well. Rather than producing things from data gathered on a massive scale, the Magic Pod, he explains, arrives at its results using logic that relies only on the data inside the game.

Games go out, and support comes back

Other players play the games you publish. Those who play collect “Fave Birds” and can send them to the creators of games they like.

On its own, that would be a way to cheer on creators and nothing more. Here, the sender gets something back. Depending on how far the creator they backed has grown, they earn “Silver Points,” which can be exchanged for in-game accessories and items.

Free to play, so is there gacha?

The game is free to play. That raises the next question: is there gacha?

Tanibuchi has said plainly that there is none. Monetization comes through item purchases and a subscription. The subscription gives access to a range of services, while individual purchases are for in-game items.

From working title to playable

The project first surfaced in September 2025, on Konami’s new project presentation stage at TOKYO GAME SHOW 2025. At the time, the title carried a “working title” tag.

About a year later, in September 2026, Konami formally announced it with a concept trailer during its KONAMI PRESS START broadcast. The “working title” tag came off the title as well, leaving KONAMI Wai Wai World Craft.

The Official Games are the ready-made games that serve as the base when you build your own. Examples include a PvP battle royale, a side-scrolling action game and a 3D action game.

Then, at TOKYO GAME SHOW 2026, the game became playable for the first time. Attendees got an early hands-on experience with the Official Games. On hand were a 3D platformer and a 2D action game, and the demo featured a Contra protagonist and Simon.

A side-scrolling game in play.

A 3D game in play.

So what will you make Bill and Simon do?

The games on offer at the show were Official Games built by Konami. Konami will keep deciding which characters are available as parts. What happens after that is up to the player.

What are Bill and Simon doing inside a game a player built? Seeing that will have to wait for a release date that has not been set yet.